TMCF CEO to Speak at NCCU Commencement for Graduate Students

Johnny C. Taylor Jr., president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, will deliver the address at the commencement ceremony for graduate and professional students at North Carolina Central University on Friday, May 10. The ceremony begins at 3 p.m. in McDougald–McLendon Gymnasium.

Taylor has led the Thurgood Marshall College Fund since 2010. It is a philanthropic organization that raises tuition and scholarship money for students attending public historically black universities, medical schools and law schools throughout the United States. The fund has awarded more than $200 million in scholarships and other support since its founding in 1987. It is named in honor of the late Justice Thurgood Marshall, who served on the U.S. Supreme Court 1967 until 1991 and was the first African-American to do so.

Previously, Taylor was a senior executive with IAC/InterActiveCorp, the large media and Internet company led by media mogul Barry Diller. Before that he was a litigation partner and president of the human resources consulting business for the McGuireWoods law firm; executive vice president and general counsel for Compass Group USA, and general counsel and senior vice president for Paramount Pictures Live Entertainment Group, a Viacom subsidiary. In 2011, he was selected as one of the “Power 100,” Ebony Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential African-Americans.

Taylor earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Miami, followed by Master of Arts and law degrees from Drake University. As a volunteer, he is former chairman of the Society for Human Resource Management and a member of the board of directors of the YMCA of the USA. He is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.